This invention relates generally to utility services distribution centers and more particularly concerns pedestals supplying utility services for marine and recreational vehicles and the metering associated therewith.
Known utility pedestals supplying electrical power, telephone, cable TV and water service for marine and recreational vehicles hard wire their supply lines to the receptacles into which the users plugs are inserted. This includes individual conductors which sequentially connect to the supply line termination, the circuit breakers and the receptacles and return to the supply line termination. Similar hard wiring is also used to connect receptacles for TV/cable and telephones to their respective supply lines. While some of these units are constructed of separate base and upper pedestal housings, their hard wiring makes them monolithic or inseparable.
This monolithic construction has many drawbacks. For example, in bad weather it is not uncommon for a marine or recreational vehicle to move away from its supply pedestal sufficiently that connecting cables pull the pedestal from its base, damaging the service wiring and plumbing. Furthermore, since the pedestal components cannot be disassociated from the base without disassembly, they are generally left continuously exposed to weather damage during the off-season. And, if maintenance is required, the pedestal is typically out-of-service until the hard-wired changes can be completed. Then, too, the utility services provided at a given pedestal are unchangeable without disassembly and rewiring, so that each pedestal is essentially permanently dedicated to vehicles having a specific maximum utility service demand.
The problem of permanent dedication is further compounded by the conformation of presently known metering systems. Such meters use conventional current transformers as their source of current input with the transformers permanently configured for their particular application. The elements are either built into the meter or are connected externally by screw terminals or other splicing methods. Readouts are provided digitally by built in LCD or LED display modules or electromechanically by counters using stepper motor driven or pulse driven displays. Different meters are required for single, two and three phase applications and for each output associated therewith. In order to change from one meter function to another, the hard-wired meter must be replaced in the system. For example, assume that a marina has a shore power 30 A 120V three-wire receptacle with a single current transformer/single output meter unit housed in a box on a deck beside a transient slip. If a boat waiting to dock in the slip requires a 50 A 120/240V four-wire receptacle, the marine operator must completely remove the old meter and install a meter having two current transformers and a single output in order to accommodate the boat.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a utility pedestal for marine and recreational vehicles which is not hard-wired to incoming utility supply lines. Another object of this invention is to provide a utility pedestal for marine and recreational vehicles which has an outgoing utility supply line pedestal which is adapted for quick connect/disconnect to/from an incoming utility supply line base. A further object of this invention is to provide a utility pedestal for marine and recreational vehicles which has an outgoing utility supply line pedestal which disconnects from an incoming utility supply line base in response to displacement of the attached marine or recreational vehicle. Yet another object of this invention is to provide a utility pedestal for marine and recreational vehicles which has an outgoing utility supply line pedestal which can be quickly disconnected from an incoming utility supply line base for off-season storage and maintenance. It is also an object of this invention to provide a utility pedestal for marine and recreational vehicles which has interchangeable receptacle panels to permit changes in utility service capability of the pedestal. Still another object of this invention is to provide a utility pedestal for marine and recreational vehicles which has a single metering system adaptable to accommodate a variety of phase/user applications.